


A Cave For a Tower

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: The Travel Collection: Drabbles, Snippets, and Supershorts [42]
Category: Arthurian Mythology, Highlander, Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, GFY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 13:32:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first time she's felt wind in over a thousand years, and Nimue turns her face into it with a smile.</p>
<p>That there will still be conflict, she knows, but she had only sworn she would remain in her self-imposed exile, locked in her tower, until both Merlin and Morgana had died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Her Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> A Sorcerer's Apprentice AU which mostly leaves canon intact. Also crossed over with Highlander sometimes, mostly involving Methos.

Her cave hides along sea-cliffs where gulls wheel and cry, and waves crash into caves and inlets. Centuries of peace in her sanctuary, alone for much of it. Only one apprentice ever breached the walls, and that not even on purpose - or by his own hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "cove".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Ocean's Edge](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/749690).


	2. Open the Gate

It does not matter to her if it is dark where she watches, as the magic provides an illumination of its own that is enough for her to see by. Enough, too, to wake up those she watches, if they do not sleep deeply. She doesn't mind the plasma ball that passes by her ear to impact the wall behind her, nor the rolled eyes her chuckle earns her from Balthazar.

No, she doesn't mind at all, not when she can see the woman who sleeps in his arms. If he has his beloved returned to him, his quest should be at an end, and the feud that has left her in a self-imposed exile for centuries should likewise be ended.

Laughing again, she lets the spell go, vanishing from his sight, and leaving him to sleep in darkness and peace for a while longer. Dancing about her cave, her sanctuary and tower and prison for so long. A fortress still, but one which might once again have a gate that could be opened to others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "dark".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Not Always the Absence of Light](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/951873).


	3. Outside World

It's the first time she's felt wind in over a thousand years, and Nimue turns her face into it with a smile. The clean smell of ocean, the damp sting of salt spray, the gritty feel of sand under her feet, all of it speaks of a home she's not truly seen in far too long. A price she'd willingly paid to keep out of the mess that had begun with Morgana and Merlin and Merlin's apprentices.

That there will still be conflict, she knows, but she had only sworn she would remain in her self-imposed exile, locked in her tower, until both Merlin and Morgana had died. She opens her eyes after a long moment, staring out over the sea that divides her home from the rest of the world. Somewhere to the west over that ocean is the youngest of Merlin's apprentice's, her favorite target for mischief in the last several centuries - if only because he's been the one worthwhile person who's lived as long.

Perhaps she ought to visit in person, to allow him the knowledge that she isn't just an incorporeal spirit of mischief. She could visit all the places she's only seen through the lens of a spell in person, and she has all the time in the world to do so. Perhaps even find an apprentice for the first time in over a thousand years.

A soft chuckle escapes her, and she digs her toes into the sand. Or she could visit a very old friend in person for the first time in a like period. Owain - Methos, yes, but she'd met him when he was calling himself Owain - would be surprised to see her free of her prison once more, and he might even be glad to see her this time. She hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "wind".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Sky-Song](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/1471349).


	4. Master Yourself

"Hello, Balthazar." Nimue smiles as she leans back over the branch of the tree in Central Park she's been occupying for hours at a time most days. Waiting for Balthazar or his lady or his apprentice to notice there's someone else in the city, though she's not been particularly inclined to make a scene to attract their attention.

"Hello, Mischief." Balthazar leans back in the bench he'd sat on a moment ago, an amused smile on his face. "Or should I say, Nimue?"

"Hmph." Nimue makes a face, scrunching up her nose in annoyance. "Methos told you that little secret, did he? Cheeky bugger." She sighs, shifting a little to make sure she had a good grip with her knees over the branch before leaning further back, until she's dangling upside down. It's not as safe as it had been when she'd been in her cave, but she likes watching the world from this perspective.

Balthazar shrugs, meeting her gaze easily. "How did you manage to keep out of the Encantus?"

"Oh, you know. Mortals and mundanes aren't the only ones who chose to remember history in a particular fashion." Nimue watches him with a neutral expression on her face. "Merlin and I didn't get along any better than Morgana and I. I suppose neither of them thought of me as remotely important enough to inform their apprentices of - especially since I hadn't taken any of my own, and didn't agree with either of their primary philosophies."

Balthazar raises an eyebrow, silently inviting her to explain that further.

Letting out another sigh, Nimue flicks a finger at him, a sinuous, glittering ribbon emerging to float and twist in the air. "Master yourself, master your magic. Serve whoever you wish, or whatever ideal you wish, but never think that you are merely a servant, or you neglect to fully master either yourself or your magic. Never think you are rightfully the master of anything else simply because you can wield magic, or you forget that you are fallible - and you are likewise, no master of yourself and your magic."

"And have you?"

"No." Nimue shrugs. "I am no one's master save my own, and I am no one's servant save my own curiosity. I have yet to master my own illusions, and I have yet to figure out what Merlin, the irritating old man, did to leave me unable to die." She pauses, tilting her head to one side. "Or if, indeed, he did anything. I haven't really tried to figure out how to die, because I'm not done with life and the rest of it yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "tree".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Branching From the Center](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/1539051).


	5. Illusions

"You have to do better than that, little one, if you're going to catch me." Nimue bounces on her toes after the near-miss, watching as Dave's face twists in frustration. It's amusing how easy it is to wind up Balthazar's apprentice. Especially since he's doing well enough, really, with picking up on how to deal with her and her illusions.

"Why am I being bullied into learning how to shatter illusions, anyway? I mean, I understand doing the same with glamors; I don't want to see someone else wearing my face or something. But aren't you the only sorcerer ever to figure out this sort of illusion?"

Nimue shrugs. "It's not as if anyone else decided to sit out Merlin and Morgana's little spat, and sealed themselves in a cave for over a thousand years. Everyone else just relies on transforming and transmuting things, or basic visual illusions. It works." She pauses, smiling a moment. "But. If you're the most powerful sorcerer since Merlin and Morgana, shouldn't you learn all you can about magic?"

She gathers her magic, spinning her illusions as she ducks back into her hiding spot, leaning against the cool brick of the wall, like and unlike the wall of her cave. "Regardless, the sooner you learn, the less likely I am to find a way to dangle you by your ankles." She gives him a cheerful smile, and giggles when Dave rolls his eyes and gives her illusion a dirty look. "Cheeky!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Missing".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [All of a Question](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/1680257).


	6. Changing the Land

The fog is cool against her skin as Nimue walks the changed coast of her homeland. Still Wales, but no longer itself alone, with its princes and nobles. The shape of the land altered by time and by the hands of mundanes and sorcerers alike, the shape of the map changed even more than the land. Cities sprung up where once had been nothing but villages, if any human settlement at all. Roads and bridges and aqueducts. Farms and villages where she remembered there being wilderness. All of it changed, though she can almost pretend it hasn't when the fog rolls in, and shrouds it all in gray and white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Cloud".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Storms and Sunsets](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/1848918).


	7. Tower Cliffs

"The entire cliff face is hollow - should have, in fact, collapsed into the ocean decades ago, if not centuries."

Nimue stifles a giggle as she listens to the mundanes talk in awed tones about the caves that have made up her tower, her home, since she'd sealed it over a thousand years ago. They still do not see all of it, illusions that are as solid as rock hiding her inner sanctum still. They'll never understand the true wonder of it, magic and nature interwoven so deeply they'll never be unraveled. But they will wonder at the miracle of nature that are the hollow cliffs, and ever try to solve the question of how they still support the weight of civilization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Hollow".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Lost Deeps](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/2020100).


	8. Bower

"You come out of hiding after a thousand years and more, and suddenly there's all sorts of riff-raff on your doorstep." Nimue leans backward off her favorite ledge, regarding Balthazar and Veronica from that vantage point. "Although I suppose he cleans up nice enough. Hello, Veronica. It's good to see you keeping him close."

Balthazar rolls his eyes, stepping into the cavern properly, and summoning one of the few chairs over to offer it to Veronica. Nimue doesn't move, continuing to watch them upside down. Usually she's - to their point of view - dangling through a ceiling when she does this.

"You did us the courtasy of visiting our city in person." Veronica smiles, as Balthazar leans against the wall behind her, not looking entirely comfortable. "I thought it would be polite to do the same."

Nimue chuckles, hauling herself up and turning to sit properly, swinging her legs in the space under the lip of the legde. "I mostly wanted to prove I wasn't just an imp of mischief to Balthazar." She shrugs, leaning forward a little with her hands on the stone to either side of her knees. "It's strange to be outside again, after so long."

Veronica's smile is more knowing, and somewhat sad now. "It is strange, but a welcome strangeness."

"Perhaps." Nimue shrugs. "At least now I can have more variety in my garden, with access to all the new plants that have been discovered since I shut myself into my tower."

A garden that creeps up the walls of another cavern, a crystal dome allowing in sunlight, and blooms in a riot through the year. The heady smell of good soil, rich flowers, and greenery permeates even here, when Nimue doesn't close up her tower too greatly.

After a long moment of potentially awkward quiet, Nimue offers to show them the garden, a hidden gem that she will never allow mundanes to find. A bower in which Balthazar eventually leaves them alone to talk, in a language long changed about matters to which men are not privy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Garden of Eden](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/2052277).

**Author's Note:**

> **OCs for this story/AU:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Nimue - a character which borrows a name from a character in Arthurian mythology, and a situation, but otherwise is created from whole cloth. She is meant to be in the same age range as Merlin and Morgana, but does not follow either's philosophy. After an argument with Merlin that resulted in a much longer life-span than she expected, and likely before Merlin's death, she shut herself into a cave, with the intent to stay there until Merlin and Morgana's fighting stopped.


End file.
